A Most Beautiful Thing - 4.5, rounding up

[forsanolim]

4.5 stars, rounding up

This is a really solid memoir that I found completely by chance, growing through the available audiobooks in my library's catalog. This book is a memoir of being a member of the first African-American public high school rowing team, at Manley High School on the West side of Chicago in the late 90s. Cooper grew up in a small apartment on the West Side and vividly describes the hardships--gangs recruiting high-school boys, a mother who was addicted to drugs--of his childhood and documents the ways in which joining the crew team changed his and his teammates' lives.

I'm rounding this up to 5 stars because I think that this story is really important. The writing didn't entirely click with me--it often felt a bit didactic, as there is a lot of reflection on what Cooper learns through rowing and there are also multiple times when Cooper recounts him giving very speech-like advice that comes off as a little inauthentic. I read online that Cooper was inspired to write this book for the students he was working with in the NYC public schools, and I have to think that this book would be really excellent for those students. Cooper's experience is definitely relevant to a broader audience, though, and I would definitely recommend this book.

[Holly R W]

I just watched a Netflix movie, "The Grizzlies", with a similar theme. It was a true story about high school students who were coping with alcoholism, poverty, domestic abuse and their friends' suicides. They were Inuit teens living in the arctic. Their high school teacher introduced them to lacrosse. Learning the sport and playing on the team made quite an impact in their lives.